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Donovan Moodleys mother, Mary, says goodbye at end of the court session at the Johannesburg High Court. Moodley has pleaded with the judge for retrial after being convicted of his murdering Leigh Matthews. Photo: Antoine de Ras

For two mothers the Donovan Moodley saga being played out in the Johannesburg High Court has been a gruelling ordeal.

The parents of the “very nice girl”, as Moodley described Leigh Matthews who he has been convicted of murdering, listened in obvious agony.

Moodley told the court that, if he had acted differently, Matthews would be alive today.

He is pleading with the judge to grant him a retrial.

Moodley’s mother, Mary, showed her quiet support for her son this week with whispers, gentle touches and brief embraces.

Throughout Moodley’s two-day petition to the the court Mary and his father Stephen sat directly behind him in courtroom 2A.

Sharon Matthews, mother of Leigh. Photo: Antoine de Ras

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Five other relatives occupied the first bench alongside the Moodleys.

At each adjournment, Stephen, armed with a notebook, would communicate with Moodley in hushed tones.

Mary looked nervous and never once glanced back to where Leigh Matthews’s parents, Rob and Sharon sat.

At the end of the end of each day she embraced her son and whispered into his ear as he was being led back to the holding cells.

“In respect of my family, we have been through a great deal of abuse,” Moodley told the court.

On Thursday Moodley admitted his actions were not honourable and he was embarrassed that he had weaved a web of lies, changing his story many times and failing to tell the “real truth” about events around the 2004 murder of the Bond University student.

Painting himself as a “defenceless man crushed by the mighty State” and the “poisonous tree planted by (investigating officer Piet) Byleveld”, Moodley presented this argument before Judge Joop Labuschagne.

A retrial, unprecedented in SA, would enable him to “expose a web of lies” told by Byleveld and show how the top cop – now a private investigator – had manipulated evidence and tortured him into confessing to the murder.

“Yes, I lied, and I’m sorry for that. My actions have not been honourable.

“I have to live with this,” said the once plump man whose sunken cheeks are indicative of the strain the seven years behind bars have had on him.

With a cracking voice, he later looked at Judge Labuschagne and said: “My life is in your hands”.

As he had done during his arguments in court on Monday, he again attacked Byleveld.

“You cannot choose which part of the confession is true and which one is not true.

“Finality can only be reached when we know what happened, when we know the truth,” he said.

This was in reference to a confession he said Byleveld had edited, omitting all reference to three drug peddlers he claimed had masterminded Matthews’s kidnapping and murder.

He also attacked State prosecutor Zaais van Zyl, saying he was lapping up the limelight as he had declared back in 2005 that the case would be the highlight of his career.

“He (Van Zyl) has shown little credibility in this process,” said Moodley.

But Van Zyl, who appeared annoyed by Moodley’s repetition of points he had already presented in court on Wednesday, asked Judge Labuschagne to dismiss Moodley’s application as it was ridden with improbabilities.

“There is no proof of any of the alleged meetings with the threesome, as there is also no proof of their existence,” Van Zyl said.

He dismissed Moodley’s claims that he had handed the men his firearm because they had threatened to kill members of his family.

He also disputed Moodley’s claims that Byleveld had destroyed all evidence that could exonerate him.

But Moodley hit back, saying he had two options when cornered: “To shoot or to hand over the firearm.”

In concluding his arguments, he said: “It is my prayer that this court reviews this correctly.

“I close by saying my life is in your hands,” he told the judge.

Judge Labuschagne reserved judgment until Wednesday. - The Star